Heroin, before the Industrial Revolution, was used to relieve Asthma symptoms. Arsenic and mercury were used to treat Syphilis. Cocaine was used to relieve coughs, colds, and toothaches. Cocaine was also given for indigestion, melancholia (depression), and neurasthenia, and even as an anesthetic. It was not until 1880s that it started to become an accepted drug within the medical community. Cocaine was first isolated and extracted from the coca leaves in 1859 by German Chemist Albert Niemann.